Qin Yining trembled all over, having to lean against the wall to stand steady. But even though her body had reached its limit of endurance, she still didn’t want to show any weakness in front of Li Helan!

“I’ll give you the same words back.” Qin Yining glanced sideways at Li Helan, her face full of mockery. “You came to the prison privately—His Majesty doesn’t know, does he? Coming here rashly, will His Majesty blame you? To say nothing else, the reason I’m alive now is because His Majesty needs me to be a living person. But with your insults making me completely lose the will to live, tell me, if something happens to me, will His Majesty spare you?”

“You’re threatening me!” Li Helan’s expression suddenly changed. “If you want to die, go die! Do I fear you?”

“You naturally don’t fear me. After all, you, this Princess Imperial, whether in your imperial brother’s eyes or your husband’s eyes, are like you don’t exist. Already married, yet thinking about other people’s husbands all day—if I were Prince Consort Ji, I’d want to kill you, much less grow old with you in harmony!”

“If I were your imperial brother, having arranged a good marriage with a trusted ally, only to have my own sister undermine it like this, trying every way to cuckold my trusted ally, turning marriage alliance into enmity—I’d equally want to kill you for revenge! You’d better pray I can live until His Majesty needs to use me, otherwise your death won’t be far off either.”

Li Helan trembled all over upon hearing this. When her gaze met Qin Yining’s, she involuntarily looked away, discovering she couldn’t maintain eye contact with Qin Yining. Her gaze was too oppressive, inexplicably making one’s heart race.

Once momentum weakened, it was hard to recover.

Li Helan also found it boring, stepping back, wanting to say something to regain face.

“Ha. You can only be stubborn with words for this moment. When my imperial brother kills your whole family, let’s see if you can still be proud!” After speaking, she turned and left.

Qin Yining stared at Li Helan’s retreating figure. Her body swayed as she collapsed weakly to the ground.

“Princess Consort, how are you?” Ji Yun, Bingtang, and others anxiously inquired.

Qin Yining shook her head. “I’m not…”

“Ah!”

A scream pierced their ears, cutting off Qin Yining’s unfinished words. Everyone was startled, looking in shock toward the source of the sound, only to see Li Helan and the old nanny who had accompanied her pierced through by someone’s sword, collapsing at the prison door!

Before they could react, several black-clad masked figures rushed in, using keys to open everyone’s cell doors.

“Who are you?” Qin Yining was grabbed by the arm by a black-clad person who dragged her outside.

“It’s me!”

At this moment, they saw a short, stocky Taoist nun with a face full of smiles, holding a large red swaddling bundle in each hand, standing at the prison door. Who else could it be but Tianji Zi?

“You…”

“No time for chatter—let’s go quickly. People will probably chase after us soon!”

Qin Yining’s gaze was already drawn to those two swaddling bundles. She couldn’t care about anything else. Though originally extremely weak, she now had strength throughout her body, moving toward Tianji Zi’s direction.

Jingzhe, Xie Yue, Ji Yun, and others were also freed from their bonds.

Seeing Qin Yining like this, Tianji Zi hurriedly cooperated by handing her one swaddling bundle. “This is your child—no mistake.”

It really was!

Qin Yining looked at this one then that one. Her heart, which had been suspended for many days, finally settled back in place. Tears of excitement poured forth as she trembled: “It really is, it really is!”

“Would I lie to you? Don’t delay any longer—let’s go quickly!”

Tianji Zi casually tossed the swaddling bundle to Ji Yun, who had rushed nearby, then turned to lead everyone charging out.

Xie Yue and Qin Yining exchanged glances. He said quietly, “Whether this is deception or not, we can’t stay here now.”

Qin Yining nodded, and everyone followed, rushing out.

Upon exiting the prison door, they saw orange-red light leaping and flickering in the night sky. Everywhere around them, people were shouting: “Fire! Thunder struck down—the palace is on fire!”

“Oh my, how could this happen! How could the palace be struck by thunder!”

…

Qin Yining immediately understood. This must be Tianji Zi’s diversionary tactic of making noise in the east while attacking in the west, drawing everyone’s attention to the palace fire. For the sake of rescue, for the merit of rescue, most manpower would be concentrated at the palace!

The group ran out silently. As Qin Yining ran, she checked the swaddling bundle in her arms—Xuan Ge’er was sleeping deeply.

“With all this commotion, he still doesn’t wake. Bingtang, check the children later.” Qin Yining was very worried.

Bingtang nodded. Seeing Qin Yining’s lack of physical strength and frequent stumbling, she quickly took the swaddling bundle from her arms. Jingzhe and Dahan immediately supported Qin Yining on either side as they headed out.

The journey away from the Ministry of Justice prison went very smoothly. Along the road were corpses everywhere—some stabbed to death, others poisoned to death with black blood foaming from their mouths.

Their group would normally have left footprints, especially after the recent snowfall. But because of the palace fire, many common people came out to watch the excitement, and the Water Dragon Bureau and Five Cities Military Commission personnel rushed frantically to provide rescue. The footprints on the ground became even more chaotic, and their group’s tracks mixed in among them were completely undetectable.

Tianji Zi’s people led the way in front, with Qin Yining’s group following behind. They actually managed to smoothly turn around a street and arrive at a quiet spot in the back alley.

Tianji Zi said, “Hurry and follow me. We can’t leave the city right now. I have a residence in the city—let’s go to my place first!”

“Why are you saving me?” Qin Yining truly didn’t dare trust Tianji Zi anymore. This person acted in unpredictable ways. She had previously tried to assassinate her, wanting nothing more than to tear her to pieces, firmly claiming that her existence was a variable obstructing the Purple Star Emperor’s ascension.

Now she was coming to rescue people again. Qin Yining really suspected her motives—was she planning to use some other scheme?

Tianji Zi rolled her eyes at her fiercely: “So much nonsense! Are you going or not?”

Seeing Qin Yining’s wretched appearance, Tianji Zi added, “If I wanted your life and your son’s life, I could simply do nothing—you probably couldn’t last a few more days anyway, right? At this point, you still have the mood to chatter?”

Qin Yining looked at the people behind her, then nodded. No matter what, she had to get through tonight first; other matters could be planned later.

The group followed behind Tianji Zi, winding and turning to avoid the soldiers they encountered along the way. Those people were all rushing toward the palace to fight the fire and couldn’t be bothered with anything else, which allowed them to arrive undetected at Tianji Zi’s residence located in the suburbs, close to the North City Gate.

“This is it.” Tianji Zi pushed open a black lacquered wooden door with peeling paint at the end of the alley, waving her hand to beckon everyone inside.

This was a single-courtyard residence with three main rooms and two side chambers. The furnishings in the house were old, but all daily necessities were complete—at a glance, it was clearly an ordinary household.

Tianji Zi stood with hands on her hips in the middle of the courtyard, panting heavily. She looked at the twenty-some people behind Qin Yining, then glanced at the dozen or so behind herself.

“Let me tell you, I’m not doing this for free. Your princess consort’s life—how much is it worth? And your chief maid, your guards—plus my subordinates acting once also requires silver. This residence isn’t given to you for free either; you also have to pay. And with so many people eating, drinking, and living here, don’t expect me to pay!”

Qin Yining was momentarily speechless, glaring at Tianji Zi with a breath of stale air stuck in her chest, coughing violently.

Bingtang quickly patted Qin Yining’s back to help her breathe.

Xie Yue said, “The immortal lady speaks truly. You need not worry about payment—our prince will surely reward you handsomely in the future.”

Tianji Zi laughed heartily, “Immortal lady? It’s been so long since anyone called me immortal lady. Fine, you all settle in for now. If anything comes up, come find me in the main room. Stay peacefully for tonight first. Tomorrow I’ll scout the situation in the city and find a way to get you out.”

“Thank you, immortal lady.” Xie Yue bowed sincerely.

Jingzhe and others followed Xie Yue’s actions, all bowing together. Due to the deep night requiring quiet, they dared not speak loudly, so they all remained silent.

Tianji Zi pointed in Qin Yining’s direction: “Look, your prince’s subordinates are much more sensible than you and much more likeable. I really don’t know why he’s so fixated on you—it’s not like there aren’t women more beautiful and less troublesome than you.”

Qin Yining was so angry her coughing became more violent, and her vision darkened. The string she had been holding taut while gritting her teeth and persisting in prison finally snapped. Her body went limp as she collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

“Princess Consort, Princess Consort!”

Everyone was in chaos—those rescuing rescued, those boiling water boiled water. Tianji Zi stood with hands on hips watching these people, the smile on her face gradually fading. She snorted coldly and returned to the main room.

Qin Yining developed a high fever that night. When Bingtang and Ji Yun wiped her body and changed her clothes, they discovered that many of her whip wounds showed signs of festering, and the frostbite on her hands and feet was extremely severe.

The two maids shed tears of heartache, cursing Li Qitian thoroughly in their hearts, even wishing today’s palace fire would directly burn that tyrant to death!

Qin Yining felt like a fat sheep skewered on a stick being roasted, her whole body burning unbearably hot. People often turned her over and wiped her with unknown seasonings. She wanted to tell these people she wasn’t a sheep and not to eat her, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t even lift her thin eyelids.

“The princess consort’s high fever won’t break—what should we do?” Ji Yun replaced Qin Yining’s cold cloth and wiped her tears with her sleeve. “The princess consort suffered so much, didn’t eat a full meal, didn’t sleep soundly, and had to be put in a prisoner’s cart to parade through the streets daily, suffering humiliation. That murderous tyrant! He even stole the princess consort’s children!”

“Enough, enough. The princess consort will be fine—aren’t the young master and young miss also safe? Don’t cry here—you’re in the way.” Bingtang pushed Ji Yun aside and took out a cloth bundle from her sleeve, unfolding it to reveal a row of silver needles. “I’ll first reduce the princess consort’s fever. Everything else can be managed.”

Ji Yun sniffled and nodded: “Then I’ll go check on the young master and young miss.”

Everyone was frantically busy but didn’t dare make any noise to attract attention.

Meanwhile, the Five Cities Military Commission patrol soldiers finally discovered the anomaly at the Ministry of Justice prison. Stepping over the scattered corpses, they went inside to find blood everywhere. The cells holding other serious criminals were intact, but the cells holding Princess Consort Zhongshun’s group were standing wide open.

Even more horrifying was that the corpses of Princess Imperial and a female official from the Princess Imperial’s mansion lay inside the prison!

“Quick, quick! Enter the palace and report to His Majesty!”